Method of raising textile fabrics



March 19, 1968 v K. A. MULLERS 3,

METHOD OF RAISING TEXTILE FABRICS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 17, 1967 YINVENTOR KARL AUGUST MULLERS ATTORNEY- March l9, 1968 K. A. MULLERS 3,373,468

METHOD OF RAISING TEXTILE FABRICS Filed May 17, 1967 2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR KARL AUGUST MULLERS ATTORNEY.

United States Patent Office 3,373,468 METHOD OF RAISING TEXTILE FABRICS Karl August Miiilers, Monchen-Gladbach, Germany, assignor to Franz Muller Maschinenfabrik, Monchen- Gladbach, Germany, a corporation of Germany Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 408,939, Nov. 4, 1964. This application May 17, 1967, Ser. No. 639,084 Claims priority, application Germany, Nov. 7, 1963, M 58 822 4 Claims. (Cl. 26-29) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLDSURE A continuous method of raising woven, knitted and non-woven fabrics, which method comprises the steps of feeding a quantity of moisture to a fabric and passing the moistened fabric through a raising passage containing card points to partially raise the fabric, and repeating at least once the above-mentioned step by feeding to the fabric a predetermined increased quantity of moisture, with respect to the quantity of moisture fed in the preceding step, recycling the partially raised fabric through the raising passage for further raising thereof, whereby to obtain a more uniform raising and also to improve the total raising effect.

This is a continuation-in-part application of my copending application Ser. No. 408,939, filed Nov. 4, 1964, and now abandoned.

The present invention relates to a method textile material.

It is known to raise wet woven fabrics consisting of wool and mixed yarns, knitted fabrics and non-woven fabrics, in order to obtain a denser and more voluminous raising of the fabrics. In practice in such raising process of such woven, knitted and non-woven fabrics, the goods are fed directly to the raising machine in their wet state, that is, the goods are wette'd from the start with the total required quantity of moisture and then raised during a plurality of raising passages in the machine. If the fabric is provided with the total required amount of moisture during the first pasage, the raising points of the tools penetrate the fabric only with difficulty, particularly into the weft yarn. This requires the performing of many passages, if the fabric is fed in the wet condition, in order to obtain the desired raising of the fabric. It applies particularly to fabric consisting of cell wool or cotton.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a method of raising woven, knitted and non-woven fabrics, wherein the raising takes place from the first to the following raising passages with an increasing degree of moisture.

In this manner, in accordance with this object, a raising is achieved which is more uniform than that obtained with the known raising techniques and the total raising effect is improved. Furthermore, this result is obtained by a substantially reduced number of raising passages than heretofore required.

With this and other objects in view, which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic elevation of a raising machine for performing the method according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view, partly in section, of the moistening device.

Basically, the critical operation of the method of the present invention is increasing the moisture feed from raising passage to raising passage. Due to this operation of raising Patented Mar. 19, 1968 the more uniform raising is obtained, and the total raising effect is improved, and this result is obtained by a substantially reduced number of raising passages than heretofore. During each passage of the goods to be raised, only a portion of the total quantity of moisture is fed thereto, whereby the individual card wire points of the raising machine can penetrate forcibly with less energy, yet, deeper into the base fabric.

According to the method of the present invention a woven, knitted or non-woven fabric is moistened and passed through a plurality of raising passages. The moistening is performed continuously with the passage of the fabric through the raising passage. An increased amount of moisture is applied to the fabric in successive passages of the fabric, that is, additional moisture is provided to the fabric in each successive passage than that which was provided in the preceding passage. The process is repeated as many times as necessary to obtain the desired raising. In this manner the card points in the raising passages are enabled to provide a better raising in fewer passages.

In another aspect of the present invention the first raising passage may be performed with zero" moisture, that is, by dry raising in the first raising passage. I11 this manner the card wire points can penetrate deeper into the base fabric during the first raising passage. During the succeeding raising passages, the raising takes place with successively increasing degrees of moisture as above described. In accordance with this method, the number of raising passages to produce a finished, raised product is appreciably reduced. In addition, a better raising effect is obtained.

Whether the required degree of moisture is obtained by the feeding of vapor or by the feeding of liquid, is of little importance. The critically important and decisive operation of the present invention is the one in which the goods or the fabrics are increasingly moistened from passage to passage, which operation provides the beneficial results'of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, disclosing an apparatus which performs by way of example the method of the present invention, the apparatus comprises a raising machine including rollers 2, 3 and 4 for guiding the textile fabric to a moistening device 5, for instance, a steamer, disposed on a support 6 carried by the raising machine 1 preferably on the entrance side of the raising machine.

A seam sensing device 7 cooperating with a relay switch 8 controls the moistening device 5. For this purpose a control box 9 is connected by means of an electric conduit 10 with the relay switch 8 which sends an impulse to the control box 9 during each passage of a seam 11 of the textile fabric 12. The control box 9 is in operative connection by means of a settable time clock (not shown) and is furthermore in connection with an electro-magnetic coupling 14 and also with a pre-settable counter 13 for counting the number of scam passages of the textile fabric 12. The control box 9 is also connected with an electric motor 15. The electro-magnetic coupling 14 has in conventional manner one member 14 in operative connection with the electric motor 15 and another member 14" with a worm gear 16. The electric motor 15, the electro-magnetic coupling 14 and the worm gear 16 are mounted on the support 6.

The moistening device 5 is mounted above the worm gear 16 for longitudinal movement and comprises a container 17 which has a projection 18 carrying a gear rack 19 which meshes with the worm gear 16, so that upon rotation of the worm gear 16 the moistening device 15 performs a stepwise longitudinal movement in response to the pulses received by the electro-magnetic coupling 14. The container 17 has a top plate 20 which is equipped with a plurality of perforations 21. A plate 22 is immovably mounted on the support 6 and has also a plurality of perforations 23 of a size preferably equal with the size of the perforations 21 of the top plate 20 of the container 17. The container 17 is equipped at its bottom with abutment members 24 and 25 at the respective front and rear ends thereof.

Abutment switches 26 and 27 are rigidly mounted on the support 6 and disposed within and at the respective ends of the path of the movement of the abutment members 24 and 25, so that a reversal of the direction of movement is brought about upon abutment of the respective abutment members 24 and 25 on the corresponding abutment switches 26 and 27. For this purpose the latter are in operative connection with the control box 9 by means of the electrical conduits 28 and 29.

While the apparatus described above operates automatically and continuously, a manually operated switch 30 is also operatively connected with the control box 9 by means of the electrical conduit 31. The textile fabric passes above and close to the plate 22.

The method according to the present invention is performed in the following manner:

Upon passing of a seam 11 of the textile fabric 12 on the seam sensing device 7, the latter operates the relay switch 8, which causes the emittance of an impulse to the control box 9. The latter, upon receiving the impulse renders operative the electro-magnetic coupling 14 for a predetermined time period and brings about operative connection of the worm gear 16 with the electric motor 15, which turns continuously, to thus move plate 20 in the proper direction for enlargement of the passages between the perforations 21 and 23 of the moistening device 5.

As stated above, the control box 9 includes a settable time clock, which determines the duration of the excitement of the electro-magnetic coupling 14 and thus the length of displacement of the plate 20 of the container 17 relative to the plate 22. In the position shown by example in the drawings, the maximum passage between the two plates 20 and 22 is disclosed. At the next following excitement of the electro-magnetic coupling 14 the abutment member 24 abuts the abutment switch 26. The latter causes a switching of the poles of the electric motor 15 in order to reverse the direction of rotation of the latter, without, however, releasing the electro-magnetic coupling 14. The container 17 moves now in opposite direction (in the drawings toward the left), until the abutment member 25 abuts the abutment switch 27. At this point the perforations 21 are out of coincidence with the perforations 23 and no moisture can pass to the textile fabric. Simultaneously, the abutment switch sends an impulse to the control box 9 by means of the electric conduit 29, which impulse brings about again a switching of the poles of the electric motor 15 in order to reverse again the direction of rotation of the latter and simultaneously releasing this time the electro-magnetic coupling 14.

The apparatus is now again in the starting position concerning the relative position between the plates 20 and 22 and is ready to start again a stepwise movement of the container 17 with the plate 20 relative to the plate 22, whereby with each impulse originating from the relay switch 8 the perforations 21 and 23 overlap more and more, until again complete coincidence of the perforations 21 and 23 at the end of the movement of the container 17 is obtained, whereupon the cycle is repeated. It is, however, also possible to send the impulses by means of the manual switch 30 to the control box 9 and operate manually.

While I have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined by the objects and the claims.

I claim: 1. A continuous method of raising woven, knitted, and non-woven fabrics comprising the steps of feeding a quantity of moisture to a fabric and passing said moistened fabric through a raising passage containing card points to partially raise the fabric, and

repeating at least once the above-mentioned step by feeding to the fabric a predetermined increased quantity of moisture, with respect to said quantity of moisture fed in the precedingstep, recycling said partially raised fabric through the raising passage for further raising thereof, whereby to obtain a more uniform raising and also to improve the total raising effect.

2. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the feeding of a quantity of moisture is performed simultaneously during the passage of the fabric through the raising passage.

3. The method, as set forth in claim 2, further comprising the step of forming the fabric into an endless belt and continuously performing the above steps.

4. The method, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising the step of initially passing the fabric through the raising passage without any moisture applied thereto, prior to said feeding with moisture supply.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 444,688 1/1891 Bornot 2637 666,382 l/l90l Gessner 26-37 873,656 12/1907 Bloch 2637 1,390,093 9/1921 Cucumel 26-29 XR 2,586,105 2/1952 Speakman et al. 2629 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 7,116 1836 Great Britain. 9,579 1897 Great Britain. 14,132 1852 Great Britain.

ROBERT R. MACKEY, Primary Examiner. 

